ICT from a Business Perspective

All Unified Communications vendors talk SIP nowadays, but the SIP standards leaves so much room for vendor additions that different SIP implementations do not automatically talk to each other. That’s why often a Session Border Controller is need for voice or video to make sure things are made compatible. Let’s talk a about codecs currently used …

Choosing the right end-user devices (EUD) for your Lync solution is crucial for the adoption of your unified communications solution and thus for realizing your business case of lowering telecom cost and greater agility in doing business internally and with your partners and customers. When you have setup your on premise or partner hosted Lync 2013 …

All Unified Communications vendors talk SIP nowadays, but the SIP standards leaves so much room for vendor additions that different SIP implementations do not automatically talk to each other. That’s why often a Session Border Controller is need for voice or video to make sure things are made compatible. Let’s talk a about codecs currently used in Lync 2013:

VoiceCodecs

G.711 (standard) and RTAudio Narrow Band and Wide Band are supported codecs by Lync 2013 and G.729 (comparable to a GSM call) can be used if an SBC transcodes G.711 to G.729 to for example towards a SIP trunking provider. Main reason is to the compression so less MPLS bandwidth is needed. The G.729 codec is not a supported codec in Lync itself. The quality of voice codes can be measured by the MOS values, Mean Opinion Score. Explanation of MOS can be found here on Wikipedia, together with scoring of a few codecs.

For conferencing modalities currently Siren (patented by Polycom) and G.722 are used. This gives a much better conferencing experience than the traditional audio conferencing calls where everybody dials into to a bridge from their car. Which forces the bridge to mix G.729 calls and can be a horrible experience with 20+ people in the same call.

On the Skype side the SILK codec has been used and is now also introduced into Microsoft Lync. SILK is a foundation (with CELT) of the hybrid codec Opus (at the time called “Harmony”) that was submitted to the IETF in September 2010,[13] and was chosen as the final candidate for the new standard. Opus was published as an IETF proposed standard in September 2012. The OPUS codec based partially on SILK, the voice codec that Skype has developed Now OPUS has been ratified as an official standard. But which known vendors already support this standard:

Audiocodes is one of the already mentioning the OPUS codec on their phones datasheet as upcoming and their SBC’s.

Oracle Acme Packet. Widely used in the service provider landscape. It’s been used less as an enterprise SBC, since it lacks TDM connectivity. I could not quickly find any information related to OPUS and Acme Packet.

Impact on the Microsoft and Unified Communications eco-system when it gets introduced:

Most likely the old codecs will still be supported, so no direct impact, just as SILK is now supported

Vendors supporting OPUS will have an advantage, better quality, less bandwidth needed

Why are codecs and standardization important. That’s for four reasons:

Interoperability

Bandwidth usage

voice and video quality

Control, a proprietary codec can create a deliberate lock-in into a certain architecture and thus creating more revenue for a vendor.

Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 Bandwidth calculator A good way today to estimate impact of a Lync implementation on you network can be done by using the Lync 2013 Bandwidth calculator. Whatever Microsoft will change on the codec side, they will surely come up with a new version of this tool for Skype4Business.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=19011

Note. Update on February 2015. The Skype4Business release is planned somewhere H12015. We just has the Office 365 Summit in Amsterdam with two days of presentations on Skype for Business. The slides can be found here. The OPUS codec will not be in the initial release, a lot of the communications will be based on SILK. Even though OPUS is partially based and has input of SILK the two codecs won’t be able to interoperate with each other.

From a standardization perspective and with the all the trends on WebRTC it would be good if the Microsoft will adopt the Opus codec quickly as with other vendors, so this can be the new G.729 and G.711 and commonly supported throughout different platforms.

Choosing the right end-user devices (EUD) for your Lync solution is crucial for the adoption of your unified communications solution and thus for realizing your business case of lowering telecom cost and greater agility in doing business internally and with your partners and customers.

When you have setup your on premise or partner hosted Lync 2013 standard or enterprise pool(s), session border controllers (SBC’s), survivable branch appliances (SBA’s) and/or voice gateways. (Office 365 does not support Enterprise Voice and is not likely too on the short term for multinational companies). It will be time to focus on the end-user and what device he or she will be using. The same will be applicable with the upcoming Skype4Business release expected soon.

Your end-user has an important voice and can potentially block unified communications deployments if not treated properly.

Nine important factors that will effect decision making for EUD:

Personal Taste (if end-users don’t like the device, this will slow-down adoption)

Carefully look at the tested firmware by each vendor. This is the firmware release that has passed Microsoft Qualification process, but is in most cases not the latest release. It is expensive for vendors and time consuming to go through the qualification process. Official answer is to take only the qualified tested firmware. If you want to use a newer release with newer features, test you self or your partner can test it you in their lab.

Important categories of end-user devices and software:

Headset’s

Phones

Attendant Consoles (maybe part of a Call Center solution)

Video devices (i.e. Roundtable device etc)

Profile’s

A good way to start is to segment your existing user basis into profile’s. This can be for example (but differs per company):

Executive

Executive-Admin (or secretary)

Road Warrior

Office Centric User

Receptionist

Call Center User

Factory Worker

etc

Your Human Resource (HR) department can help supplying you the information about your user basis, since they have an overview of all employees and their job descriptions. Those job descriptions can be mapped against the profile’s you make.

Once the profiles are made and it’s clear how many of each user you have you can use these to selected you end-user devices per group (phone/headset/attendant console if necessary etc.)

Don’t forget, there are some non user specific devices as well, which have to be counted or estimated:

Meetingroom devices (i.e. spiderphones or usb/Bluetooth speakers)

Common Area phone (not restricted to a certain users)

A few tips:

Keep the amount of chosen vendors to an absolute minimum. Every solution has to be:

Tested

Supported

Procured

End-user material and training material needs to created for each type of devices

The greater the volume per type, volume discounts will be more likely

It’s wise to choose together with the vendor and the supporting partner

With a small amount of different types, stock can potentially be held for fast delivery.

Outside of Europe, any hardware requires a local2local procurement and billing for tax reasons like any UC hardware or other transactions. You don’t want things to get stuck into customs for months or at an airport terminal, arguing who will pay the important licenses, taxes etc.

Here are some blog’s that explain the differences. Remember that the optimized phones are running the Lync Phone Edition (developed by Microsoft), but no new features will be coming out. It will be support for the same coming 10 years as Lync 2013 will be supported. If you already have a large installed base in optimized than it’s safe to continue deploying those.

For greenfield Lync Enterprise Voice deployments, it’s advised to go to the Qualified phones aka 3PIP phones, since the vendors mentioned above can bring features that complement Microsoft Lync voice solutions, but make sure they are tested. The firmware are developed and tested against Microsoft but made by the vendors themselves.

Enjoy the selection of your EUD. It’s a fun activity to do, but very difficult and a sums up to a portion of your unified communications budget.

With the introduction of Lync 2013, Microsoft launched the concept of the Lync Room System (LRS). The LRS is a concept of porting the Lync experience into a pc connected to a single or dual screens. Microsoft has found several hardware vendors to partner with:

Crestron (known from executive controls of AV equipment in the boardrooms of multinations)

Polycom (OEM of Crestron)

SMART Technologies (known from touch screens in the education sector)

Lifesize originally joined the program but stepped out.

The advantage of the LRS is that the Lync experience can be extended to a group of people in a room. They can share their screen with touchscreen technology and collaborate with people remotely in another office, at home or people on the road or on their mobiles.

On the 18 February 2014 at the Lync Conference in Las Vegas all the vendors were finally able to show their systems together. Some very interested upcoming features coming up in the next release are described by (i.e. the new VIS role):

users on the road via Wifi (i.e. in a hotel) with Lync on their laptop

users at home with Lync 2013 on their home pc

mobile or fixed phones dialing in via PSTN

All together joining in a single session and share voice, video and desktop sharing and collaborate with a single experience.

Video interoperability between Lync and Room based Videoconferencing.

So you will ask, what about my videoconferencing systems? I don’t want to throw away my investment I made earlier. You don’t have to, but expect them to be used next to each other in stead of combining them. In current release of LRS, it is not possible to dial-out, so it’s not possible to dial into a video Multi Conferencing unit or single system.

There are rumors that this will be solved in a next release, but expect and I would advise to keep it to a single Lync only experience.

Despite the protest of Cisco at the European Court, Microsoft has integrated Skype with Lync 2013 through a gateway. It is now possible to use the following functionalities between the two environments (Skype for consumers and Lync 2013 for business):

instant messaging and presence

audio

video (on the roadmap)

A whole new paradigma is emerging where now the Unified Communications stack of the business world is merging with the consumer world. So all kinds of B2B and B2C models will arise.

Use Cases

Some use cases I see for the Skype/Lync gateway or had some great input for from others:

Family: talking to family when traveling or roaming (reducing mobile roaming cost)

Contractors: connecting to 3rd party contractors, not using Lync (improve communications)

Business Partners: talking to business partners that use Skype as business communication platform (improve communications)

Banking: this might be for a example a premium channel of helpdesk or a Private Banker to be reached on instant messaging next to the phone. (improved customer service)

an infinite number of examples can be thought and I am interested in receiving use case that might be good example

This new functionality creates al kinds of new possibilities of business models and how business can communicate with consumers and offer better and quicker answers then just a voice helpdesk, email entry etc.

Marketsize Skype

Skype is a phenomenon and is in the category of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple iMessage and FaceTime.

Skype is big in the consumer market and is limited seen in the business market. Skype can be used for:

Peer2Peer VOIP

multiparty audio en/or video calls

Skype Out for outbound access to the PSTN network

Skype In where a Direct Inward Dial number can be assigned to your Skype account. So you can be reached on Skype throught the PSTN

A great blog with some video’s on what’s possible with Skype on the XBOX can be found here: “A new Skype experience in the living room, with Xbox One”. Since I don’t have a XBOX, i couldn’t test it myself, but understood I it works very well (audio for now, video when supported between Skype and Lync). (thanx Mitchell Weiss for the tip on the XBOX)

Details on a global VOiP report from VisionGain and global landscape can found in this report, where Skype marketshares are discussed.

Since Skype is so big, connecting the business UC product Microsoft Lync 2013 to Skype via a gateway connectivity is a major thing. However since most companies are still on OCS 2007 R2 and Lync 2010 and it takes time to plan and upgrade to the latest release Lync 2013. It is not widely known yet in the market on how and where this functionality is being used. I expect big things for it however.

As mentioned in a previous blog: Lync 2013 – compelling reasons to upgrade, Microsoft has since it has taken over Skype, put Lync in the same business unit. Microsoft has been working on connecting the consumer unified communications world (Skype) together with the business unified communications world (Lync) and made this possible in their Lync 2013 release. Skype will not replace Lync since it’s feature sets are not the same, however to a certain extend overlapping, but Skype is much more limited (but sufficient for consumers)

This page describes the functionality from a Microsoft point of view. Important and that is something users will have to do in advance is to merge their Skype account with their Microsoft account (@hotmaill, @live, @outlook.com). This is needed because your Skype account needs a SIP URI, so externals can find out how to locate each other. It is a shame that such a technical procedure has to occur before Skype users can communicate with Lync users, since it will limit the adoption rate (this is just to difficult for the average user)

Prerequisites are that a Skype receives an URI (Uniform Resource Identifyer). This can be done by creating or use an existing Windows account and merge this with the Skype account. The URI will then be similar to email address of the mail account and the Skype username is connected to it. This will look:

personsx@outlook

personsx@live.com

personsx@hotmail.com

This URI can then be used just like a normal federated Lync user and a user can be added to Lync. When doing this from the Lync point of view, on the Skype side an “approval request” is shown. Once this a approved, two users can start communicating.

So once an account is merged, it is just as easy as Lync to start communicating.

The description on the merge procedure can be found here and is actually very simple, you just need to know in advance.

Screenshots

So what does it look like from both sides. Here you see some screenshot on my MacBook with Lync for the Mac (connected to office environment) and Skype in one picture communicating with each other.

So I hope everyone likes this functionality and hope to hear back how people are using it, please leave your reply in the comments on what you think and potential use cases.

For the upcoming video interoperability. Skype talks in their blog: “Skype’s Pursuit of the Perfect Video Call” about adapting the H.264 codec for optimal use. I wonder if this is the same H.264.SVC (microsoft implementation) as introduced in Lync 2013. From Microsoft perspective it would make sense. Time will tell in the ever dynamic world of unified communications.

Already starting from OCS server, Microsoft supports conferencing (audio, video and web) in it’s UC solution. More and more organizations are conferencing on the Lync platform and use it to save costs on their conferencing. With multinationals more than often 100.000’s minutes per month are spend on conferencing. And very often these organizations only use a few local dial-in numbers on Lync.

If you choose the right global voice provider (e.g. BT), they can supply you with local dial-in numbers for conferencing. This can be delivered in 170+ countries. So what do you need in order to achieve such a solution:

Lync 2013 Enterprise Pool (Standard Pool is also possible but not seen a lot with multinational organizations)

Note:

proper sizing of AVMCU has to be done based on amount of meetings, participants and duration and meeting size (default max 250, on dedicated AVMCU’s up to 1000 simultaneous participants)

proper sizing of SIP trunk to carry all voice traffic during peak hours.

An illustration of the solution can be found below:

Lync and global conferencing

On the bottom left the Lync datacenter can be found with:

Enterprise Pool containing

AVMCU on the Front-End servers (hosting the conferences),

Mediation Server for SIP interconnectivity

In the DMZ are:

Edge Server for connectivity with remote clients and mobile clients

SBC for connectivity and demarcation of the service provider central SIP trunk

Branch site containing:

A Surviveable Branch Applicane (SBA) (more info in: SBA deployment and testing). This can be used for survivability in case the WAN connection fails and/or to connect local PSTN and decentralized SIP trunks

Lync Client users and/or Lync Phones

Ok, now let’s see how everybody connects when a conference is organized:

On the top: any normal phone user (pstn or mobile), will have received a local dial-in number toll or toll-free (e.g +3120xxxxxxx for NL, +49xxxxxxx for DE, +32xxxxx for BE etc.). They don’t have to call an international number to dial into the conference even though the Lync datacenter might not be in their country

On the bottom right: users in the branch office can (option 1) connect via the WAN to the datacenter or (option 2) via the SBA and the PSTN/decentral SIP trunk, depending on configuration and survivability mode (in case of WAN failure)

So in this picture the only users that need the old fashion dial-in conferencing are external users not in possession of Lync (or don’t want to use Lync Web App) and travelling users (i.e. in the car etc). Since most conferences are internal in an organization, easily 50 to 80% of PSTN minutes can be reduced. Additional cost elements are the Lync infrastructure, SIP trunk and network connectivity (SBA is not necessary). But after collecting all data, this is a very easy business case to make in multinational organizations.

So what do we need to configure in Lync to have local dial-in numbers when a user sends an invite when organizing a meeting. High Level the steps are follows:

1. order a SIP trunking with a global provider with local numbers in the countries you like (i.e. matching your own presence, where you have office or customers / partners0

2. install a Lync Qualified SBC. Approved and tested Microsft Lync vendors can be found at the UCOIP page for Lync. Look for Infrastructure and Session Border Controllers. Well known are Audiocodes, Sonus and Acme Packet. Note: Cisco CUBE has not been tested, since Cisco does not want to submit their products to Microsoft testing.

3. Lync Server 2013 Control Panel.

Configure conferencing policy

Configure local dial-in numbers as per indicated in this blog of Elan Shudnow, this is still for Lync 2010, but in Lync 2013 the concept is the same. I’ll update this blog when time is available to make some Lync 2013 screenshots.

After this is done. All the user has to do to organize a meeting is the following:

In Outlook:

Outlook, start Lync 2013 meeting

Outlook, organizing a Lync 2013 meeting

This will look like the above and can be extended with the 170 local dial-in numbers (toll and toll-free). When a users wants to join the meeting with his Lync client or Lync Web App al he has to do is push the “Join Online Meeting” link (for audio/video and desktop sharing meeting). Audio only participants can use the local dial-in numbers.

In a future a blog i’ll go into multiple regional Pool (i.e. EMEA, Americas, APAC) conferencing setup and considerations. Note that a conference is hosted on the pool where the organizer is homed upon. For local dial-in numbers a separate numbering dial-in range per region would be used.

It has been already more than a year ago that Microsoft released Lync 2013 server. The history of Lync can be found at Wikipedia. Microsoft Office Communicator and Lync 2010 have caused a revolution in the Unified Communications and concepts like presence are now known to many end-user. Microsoft has reached the Gartner’s Magic Quadrant in UC as leader next to Cisco. Big pro’s are the tight integration with the end-user in the Office suite en solution’s like the tight integration Exchange server in a Unified Messaging solution. It’s easy to upgrade from legacy OCS 2007 R2 and Lync 2010 platform.

A quick summary of the new features introduced in Lync 2013 can be found on the Lync blog here.

I have picked out a couple of the major enhancements in the Lync 2013 release:

Video Enhancements

Microsoft has done a major overhaul on the video parts within Lync. Where in the past the Lync client supported codecs like H.263 and RtVideo, support for H.263 has stopped and next to RtVideo Microsoft now supports H.264.SVC with a specific SIP implementation. A great description on the Microsoft implementation of H.264.SVC can be found in the blog of Jeff Schertz, Microsoft MVP working for Polycom. The blog is called Video Interoperability in Lync 2013 and can be found here.

Very cool is also the new Gallery View when doing conferencing with at least 3 people. You can have web- and or video conference on an Enterprise Pool up to 250 users and up to a 1000 users if dedicated servers are used for the AVMCU’s. Participants can join with the Lync client and dial-in via the PSTN network. You can have up to 5 participants in the standing row (big pictures) and 25 users in the sitting row. The other users will be in the background.

A great overview with all the different scenario’s can be found at the Microsoft website here. Note: if you want to include standards based videoconferencing endpoint’s you may need to move all users to an MCU of Polycom or Cisco, this is very dependent on the setup of your infrastructure. If might be useful to use the Lync Room System if you want to include room systems into this multi-party conference.

Lync Room System

In februari 2013 the Lync Room System (LRS) was announced and vendors first started shipping the systems in august/septermber this year. The system is supported on Lync 2010 (note with limitations) and on Lync 2013, which is recommended since then the Gallery View is shown. It just needs an Lync and Exchange user account and there is no need for difficult back-end integrations. Scheduling is very simple from Outlook and people only have to push the join button when they enter the meeting room. Some create resource on the LRS can be found at:

The systems contains an adapted Lync client build into an appliance connected to a single or dual screen solution with a touch-screen smart board functionality. Vendors building the LRS are Smart Room System for Lync, Creston RL and Polycom CX…. (name to be confirmed). Originally Lifesize with their LRS 1000 was also to produce one, but they stepped out of the program.

Lync 2013 and Skype connectivity

Microsoft has bought Skype and put the Lync product group in the Skype division. With the introduction of Lync 2013 is possible to communicate between the two. Currently IM and Audio are support, Video is expected to follow.

This bank uses it for example to use Skype Lync connectivity to keep in contact with their customers. A Youtube video shows perfectly how to get connected and interact between Skype and Lync, once the administrator has configured this. Youtube video Skype and Lync client The details on how this can be configured can be found at this Microsoft link.

Mobile Clients

Mobile clients were already available in Lync 2010, functionality was mainly limited to IM and Presence. Lync 2013 introduced a lot more mobile clients and enriched functionality and it is now possible to have audio and video calls over 3G/4G or Wifi. Utilizing these features end-users can save money on their roaming cost and easily join conferences remotely. Several resources on mobile clients can be found below:

December 2011. Microsoft releases an announcement Apple style and announce the availability for mobile clients within a week. Support is promised for the Windows Phone, Apple iPhone and iPad and Android mobile phones. Microsoft is providing broad cross platform support, important missing platform to date is the Blackberry devices from Research in Motion (RIM). Details can be found on the Microsoft Lync mobile page here. A detailed feature comparison can be viewed on the Mobile Client Comparison table on Technet (may require partner access)

This blog will cover a description of functionalities, screenshots and video of the Lync client for the iPhone and the iPad and also the Xync Collab app for the iPad of Damaka. The clients as shown in the blog are located in the Netherlands, where the Lync 2010 and edge server is located in Switserland, including Exchange 2010 with unified messaging capabilities.

Architecture

The client connects to the server directly via the internet and the edge server or a VPN (provided by Junos pulse app). Both setups provide optimal connectivity to support roaming users to connect via 3G or WiFi internet connectivity. My Lync profile has been setup with DiD (Direct inward Dial) of the Netherlands, more specifically a Dutch amsterdam (020) number. These services are provided by SIP trunking and allow PSTN & conferencing connectivity with a global reach, starting in Germany and terminating in France and Holland, allowing any to any connectivity.

So in short the Lync clients in attached screenshots connect to a Lync 2010 server, that is voice enabled by a SIP trunk connected to a Front End.

Mobility is taking a big rise in today’s global workspace, it is being driven by cost reduction, the new way of working and trends like BYOD. Multinational want cost reduction of roaming charges and employees want continuous presence, always on and maximum flexibility in a meeting or while traveling. Lync certainly is certainly a visionairy in the UC space, closely followed by Cisco UC propositions. Players like Avaya and Alcatel are playing catch-up.

Many multi nationals having been piloting small deployments and are launching full blown deployments, in a PBX replace mode or a hybrid mode with existing PBX vendors (usually Cisco UCM, Avaya or Alcatel OXE platforms).